Truth was, Jax was kind of used to Amy’s reaction. He was easy on the eyes in a non-threatening way, and he knew it. The ladies were drawn to him. Easy to talk to, he was a nice guy after all, and it showed. And he’d never intentionally fucked over a woman in his entire life. Intentionally being the operative word. But that didn’t mean he had an endless parade of ass in his bed. Far from it. While loads of pussy was available to him, Jax was the odd bird looking for something more meaningful than a couple nights of hot, sweaty sex. The hook-up culture was something he’d tired of a long time ago. There was that of course and then the other thing. That being his unequivocal need for the sort of raw and thundering sex that made him feel alive. A far cry from the please and thank you approach he found so irritating and empty.
Brynn sat down rather cautiously across from him, her back stiff and unyielding, reminding Jax that he had some ground to make up, and quick, if he hoped to salvage this meeting.
“Coffee smells great,” he murmured as he leaned over the mug and inhaled. “Thanks.”
Miss Stick-Up-Her-Butt gestured for him to help himself to the small tray with a sugar bowl and creamer as she picked up a spoon and started shoveling rounded lumps of sweetener into her coffee.
He watched with interest as she went through her coffee ritual. Jax believed you could learn a lot by observing a person’s habits. Especially their beverage habits. They were very telling. He counted five hefty dumps from the spoon before she dropped it into the mug and tipped a glug of creamer into the dark brew.
“So, Brynn Wilde, I take it you like coffee with your sugar?” He hoped his smirk looked friendly because he was practically laughing at the absurdity of this sourpuss liking her coffee sweet and pale. Him? He liked his hot, period.
She returned his smirk and shrugged. “So shoot me. My nana taught me how to drink coffee as a little girl. I thought it was horrible, yucky even, so she kept adding sugar and cream until I stopped holding my nose. The habit stuck, I’m afraid.”
“The coffee purists must love it when you place an order,” he teased. “That kind of shit will earn you a few frowns, I’m sure.”
“Are you kidding?” she drawled. “I’ve almost been chased from coffee shops by angry villagers with lit torches and pitchforks.”
“Sacrilege,” he agreed with a nod. “I’m thinking you make up for it though with the sinful buns.”
He shouldn’t have said it, but he did—it couldn’t be helped. He was astonished when she blushed a deep rose and hid a half smile with a long draw on her coffee. He’d expected her to snark at him and put him in his place, but she didn’t.
Amy reappeared in a perfectly synchronous moment with a tray piled with all sorts of goodies, announcing that in addition to the cinnamon bites she’d thrown on a few mini scones, a couple of fresh baked cookies, and two cannoli. She made sure to sing Brynn’s praises as an amazing baker who singlehandedly came up with everything they sold. Looking at the impressive selection before him, Jax was seriously impressed with the lady’s skills.
“What do you recommend?” he asked. “It all looks amazing.”
She didn’t exactly smile at his impartial praise, but she didn’t frown either. “Oh, well….the cinnamon bites first. They’re a sample version of the bigger roll. Not as gooey but close. I’ve been told, and I am quoting here, that they fucking rock.”
She reached and plucked two for herself as Jax helped himself to a whole handful. When she arched an eyebrow at him he chuckled. “Shut up. Growing boy.”
“Uh huh,” she quipped with flashing eyes.
“Oh. My. Fucking. GOD!” he groaned with each bite. “You made these?” Finishing off the handful was no hardship at all. They were amazing, light and dense at the same time. Just the right amount of goo and a sharp cinnamon bite with vanilla on the back end that was nothing short of orgasmic. From that moment on he associated Brynn Wilde with soft, sweet, gooey rapture.
“I take it you like them?” Brynn asked with the same blush and oddly shy smile he’d seen earlier. Looking at her, he realized that she might be a tough cookie on the outside, but when it came to something she felt passionately about—her baking—she had a marshmallow center. It mattered to her what people thought.
“These are amazing Brynn.” He snatched a cannoli and all but inhaled the crunchy tube with the sweet, creamy filling. Throwing back his head he groaned like a dying man. “Honest to God. Ah-maze-ing.” He liked the way she reacted to his praise. First the pretty blush, then the half smile, and finally a wide grin. The woman was enchanting even with the stick still up her ass.
They reached for the pile of cookies at the same time when she spoke. “So, how is it you know anything at all about my business Mr. Merrill? I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”
“Please Brynn. Call me Jax. No matter how old I get, whenever I hear Mr. Merrill, I expect to see my father.”
Snapping a cookie in half, he dunked it in his coffee then popped it into his mouth. When she nodded at his request to go by first names, he relaxed.
“Okay, so,” he said briskly. “Here’s the four-one-one. As best as I know it.” She looked at him with clear suspicion, which got him laughing. “I know, right?” he barked. “Sounds like bullshit already. I’m ahead of you though because between my father and yours, there may be a shit ton of malarkey going on, but hear me out, okay?”
“My father hasn’t said a word about you, Jax.”
“Not a surprise. Long story short—I do preservation and renovation work, and I’m between projects right now. My dad called me up with some unintelligible nonsense about paybacks and promises. Said he owed your dad a big one from their college fraternity days.”
“What?” Brynn wheezed. “College? Are you kidding? That was a million years ago. And my dad’s a professor now. I hardly think he’s caught up in some ancient college stuff.”
“Your dad’s a professor? Shit. Mine is a high school principal. I guess they had a lot in common.”
“I suppose,” Brynn dismissed with a shrug. “Doesn’t explain much though, don’t you think? Just a coincidence.”
“Well, whatever it is,” Jax drawled, “it still matters today. And clearly,” he reminded her, “from the way I reacted when we met, nobody bothered to tell me about you either.”
She snorted then buried her face in her mug.
“I hope that means you know how sorry I am for acting like a prick. In no way was I implying that I hoped you were a man.” Sipping his coffee right along with her, he swallowed and sat upright, fixing her with a look. “Much prefer a sexy baker in tight jeans to an old dude in a wife-beater with an apron tied around his beer belly.”
She almost choked on her coffee. The glare told him he was on thin ice.
“So, back to this week’s episode of Our Two Dads,” he continued as if he hadn’t just told her he liked her ass. “My father promised your father that I would pay you a visit, see what was happening with your renovation project, and offer my expertise. In whatever form or fashion I could be of use to you.” Jax kept his expression blank but his head was a riot of erotic scenes where his sexual expertise took on quite a few different forms and fashions.
Brynn silently sipped her coffee and toyed with the cookie on her plate. Her guarded expression suggested she was carefully considering everything he’d told her. It was the truth. All of it. Right down to the murky rationale behind the so-called favor his father insisted he fulfill on his behalf.
Under different circumstances, he would have cut and run by now, but the feisty woman with the flour handprints on her backside was already so far under his skin that sitting here watching her was the only pressing item on his agenda.
She was beyond pretty, with a face and body that started bar fights. Like all the women he’d encountered here, Brynn was refreshingly natural, completely unpretentious, and about as intriguing as a woman could be. With a thick mane of golden hair that she kept pulled away from her face in a tight ponytai
l, she gave off an All-American Girl vibe that surprisingly turned him on. She was like every girl-next-door fantasy come to life.
Her eyes, when she actually looked at him, were a soft calm shade of blue above a perfect nose and a pair of stunning lips that made his insides as gooey as the cinnamon rolls. When she quirked her mouth just so, he saw tiny dimples that frankly made his dick twitch. Besides having a sexy ass in the killer jeans, she had a pair of boobs that he was trying not to stare at. With her simple white t-shirt, he could make out the size and shape of her breasts and determined pretty quickly from the way they moved and jiggled that they were all hers. All that along with the husky voice and fire and ice thing she had going on, Jax was more than just a little intrigued.
“Well,” she quietly replied at last, “I do have a major project in the planning stage at the house.” Looking around the quaint tearoom she added, “The business renovation is complete. Now I’ve moved on to the house out back.”
“Is that where you live?” he asked.
She sighed and a look of frustration and anger shot across her face. He wondered what the hell that was all about.
“Yeah. For now,” she answered heavily.
“Well, now that you know I’m not a serial killer, why don’t you tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”
“Why would you think there’s anything going on?” she bit out defensively.
“I know a heavy sigh when I hear one, lady. What gives?”
Dammit, dammit, dammit, Brynn thought anxiously. This guy saw right through her. The thought did not sit well at all.
She hadn’t intended to convey so much with one sigh, but when Jax asked her if the house was where she lived, the ridiculous situation with the deed for the property crashed headlong into her thoughts. Yeah. She lived there and hadn’t been joking when she’d said for now. The reminder made her uneasy on so many levels.
Maybe this wasn’t the time to even be thinking about the work she wanted to do on the house. Not if Nana was going to give it away when Brynn wouldn’t meet her crazy marriage demands. Fuck. It was the only word that really applied. Fuck.
Her patience already stretched thin, she snapped. “I wasn’t just being a bitch when I said I was busy, Jax. This isn’t a good time for me to be distracted from everything that needs to be done in the bakery.”
He gave her a look that suggested he wasn’t happy being brushed off. Oh well. Guess it sucked to be him.
“I hope you don’t think me rude if I ask you to come back later. Maybe dinnertime when we’re closing up. I’d be happy to give you a quick tour of the house and hear your opinions. If you want to that is.”
The tension she felt rolling off him backed off considerably when she finished speaking. He looked, well…I don’t know, she thought. He looked relieved somehow. Maybe he thought she was going to blow him off completely until she extended the invitation to meet later.
Brynn needed time to check some things out including calling her dad to find out what the hell he was up to and maybe even another phone plea to Nana begging her to reconsider this foolish plan to marry her off.
Plus, Jax Merrill intrigued her. She knew she was behaving like a granny with her prudish hands-off attitude, but if she could keep him focused on other things, maybe she could fend off his flirty ways long enough to get things under control at the farmhouse. It sure did need some professional expertise.
To say she was startled when he suddenly stood up and held out his hand was a huge understatement. She practically fell off her chair when his arm shot in her direction.
“Deal,” he said as he wagged his fingers so they could shake on it.
Flustered, Brynn stood up and swiped her hands down the top of her thighs before offering up a slightly trembling handshake. This time when his big hand enclosed hers and the electricity shot up her arm, she couldn’t stop the moan that rumbled from her chest.
HOURS LATER AND AFTER AN uncomfortable phone call with her dad, Brynn was puttering aimlessly around the shop as her mind wandered all over the place.
Learning that her unexpected visitor was the son of Adam Merrill, one of her father’s college buddies, and that the two older men had stayed in touch over the years helped her down off the ledge where the sexy stranger in black was concerned. He was apparently just as he presented himself, a highly skilled and sought after preservation and restoration specialist. Her dad thought he might be a good resource for the work she was tackling in the house.
She’d started the conversation with a super-size helping of sarcasm that her professorial father had not found amusing. Telling her he didn’t care for her snotty ‘tude only made Brynn feel like a chastised kid.
“How about you take a moment to remember just who you’re talking to young lady,” he’d suggested in that way parents have when they have to put one of their offspring in their well-deserved place.
Crap. “I’m sorry Dad. Really. It’s just that Nana and her interference is making me all sorts of crazy.”
She heard him sigh heavily, the sound making her heart clutch. “Brynn, sweetheart. You know that Mom and I are as proud of you as any parents could be. What you’ve managed to pull off with the bakery and then the tearoom is mighty impressive.”
“Thanks Dad.”
“But here’s the thing. When you went off and hid in upstate Pennsylvania, we thought it was just a reaction to the divorce. Roger treated you horribly and nobody blamed you for needing to pull back.”
This time it was Brynn who sighed. “Where’s this leading Dad?”
He didn’t even bother to hold back and consider her feelings. “Daughter, what the hell are you doing? All you do is work and from what we can tell you have nothing that even remotely resembles a personal life.”
“Dad! For God’s sake. Building a successful business takes a lot of hard work. I don’t have time for a social life. Sheesh.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. When was the last time you went on a date?”
Oh my fucking God. Really? “I do not have time for such nonsense,” she spat out.
“Make the time Brynn. All work and no play…okay?”
She rolled her eyes and clutched the phone so hard it was a wonder it didn’t crack. “I most certainly do not need another man in my life to complete me.”
“No one said you did.” Shit. She walked right into that one. “Look honey, just because your marriage crashed and burned doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try again. And if you don’t want to try again, that’s fine. But cutting off every other man on the planet because one asshole did you wrong is no way to live. You’re young, beautiful, and successful. Don’t you want more in your life than just working dawn to dusk?”
Groaning she tried not to fall back on one of her rehearsed responses. “Dad, listen to me. Being married is just not my thing. You guys and Nana trying to make me do something I obviously suck at is just so wrong.”
“You didn’t suck at being married. Just chose the wrong guy, that’s all. Don’t you want a family, Brynn? I mean, what’s all that success for if all you do is sit in that old house and listen to silence?”
“Those grandchildren you and Mom want so bad are going to have to come from Rhiann or Charlie. Seriously Dad. Men are too much trouble—present company excluded. I’m much better on my own. It’s the way I’m built. Period.”
Robert Baron-Wilde snorted in frustration tinged with unabashed love and affection for his daughters. “You’re joking, right? With you and your I don’t need a man shtick, Rhiann with her crazy New York life, and Charlie with her hippy dippy new age beliefs, your poor mother and I don’t stand a chance of having any grandkids to enjoy once we retire.”
Ding, ding, ding. A bell went off in Brynn’s head. “Ohhhh. So that’s where all this nonsense with Nana and her estate came from. You guys are trying to tag team me into popping out some bay-bays. You do know how ironic this is, I suppose?”
“In what way?”
“Dad, I love you
and Mom. We all feel the same way. Rhiann, Charlize, and me. We know how lucky we are to have parents who have always been there for us and loved each of us to death. But you can’t raise us to believe in ourselves and to never let being female define where we wanted to go or what we wanted to achieve in life and then suddenly start tapping your foot and looking at the calendar while you and Mom pick out grandparent t-shirts.”
“Touché sweetheart,” he chuckled. “I see your point about the irony. But…it’s all connected if you really think about it. What we wanted—what we want—is for all of you girls to have the best life possible. Having a family and being with someone to share life’s amazing journey is part of that. And while I’m preaching, you need to hire a bakery assistant, or better yet, take the community college up on their offer to have students apprentice with you.”
“Oh good Lord,” she groaned. “How in the world do you even know about that?”
He laughed. “Small town. Word gets back to me. Don’t try and change the subject, daughter. Get some help in there and start living your life.”
It was hard to argue with a professor. The call ended on an affectionate note, but she still knew her father was on Team Nana where the will was concerned and it bugged the shit out of her. It also seemed like Dad was sending mixed messages by one minute supporting his mother’s insistence that Brynn marry in order to inherit the farm property and the next minute sending experts to help with a renovation that might end up being a waste of time and money. The call reminded her that she had suspicions her parents and grandmother were up to something, but she couldn’t even imagine what.
Amy blathered on the rest of the day about the hot and sexy man in black until Brynn almost ripped her head off just to shut her up. In fact, she felt so completely frazzled and out of sorts that she’d even done a quick calendar check to see if she was in a hormonal phase. At least that would explain the wild thoughts and disturbing doubts that plagued her day.
Wilde Forever (Wilde Women Book 1) Page 4
